~ Thoughts … deep and otherwise

Let’s flush away the ludicrous bathroom issue

Now comes the federal government dictating who should use which bathrooms in the nation’s public schools, all in the interest of not offending lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders.

For crying out loud! I ask you: Is a presidential “guidance letter” telling our public schools to let students use the bathrooms matching their gender identities really necessary? It’s not a rhetorical question. And the answer is: No.

U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne has called President Obama’s latest meddling the worst example ever of government overreach. And the penalty for not complying with the campaigner-in-chief’s “guidance”? It’s a federal funding cut for schools that don’t “comply.”

Says Byrne: The federal government and the Department of Education “simply have no business being involved in ‘restroom policy.’ Let’s get real here — this is simply absurd.”

Do I hear an “Amen”?

Is this some kind of “end run” by Obama and his minions? Does he want the public so distracted by this non-issue that our attention is diverted from some other pivotal concern that should be getting our attention — such as decimating the ranks of our armed forces? Or printing money by the truck-full to artificially prop up the U.S. economy? Or throwing Israel to the radical Muslim wolves?

Says U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch in defense of the guidance letter: “There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex.”

“Discrimination of any kind”? Doesn’t this letter specifically discriminate against normal students by potentially subjecting them to the abomination of transgender exposure they might not want to experience? What about violating the privacy rights of heterosexual boys and girls across the nation?

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee rightly points out that if anything, this is a local issue that should be handled locally. Pushing it to the extreme, it’s an issue for Congress to debate and resolve — not bureaucrats in the White House, the federal Department of Education and the federal Justice Department.

More power to Texas, where state Attorney General Dan Patrick accused the Obama administration of “blackmail.” Patrick went so far as to call the guidance “social engineering.”

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has called the Washington transgender initiative “outrageous” and has directed the Magnolia State’s department of education to disregard the order.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas hit the nail on the head, saying: “The threats of predators are serious, and we should not facilitate allowing grown men or boys to be in bathrooms with little girls.”